It's the end of my summer break. Heading back to school tomorrow for another year of teaching 9th grade. Lizzie is so sweet. She's helping me make my never ending to-do list. I actually feel more prepared this year than ever since I worked most of the summer on lesson plans. Yeah!
This is Gidget's "What's goin' on?" look...
Lizzie is nuts. She loves water and taking showers. She'll even try to jump into your bath. If she hears water being turned on she will trot into the room and try to drink it.
The other day the glass shower door was open a bit as I was warming up the water. Of course she had to explore. I put her up on the ledge while I showered and then picked her up and bathed her with the warm water. She holds on to you like a koala bear. Afterwards she wouldn't get out.
I wrapped her up in a towel and then gave her a blow dry.
This is the spot that she always sits at when I blow my hair. She wants you to blow hers too but you have to be 4 feet away. She waits every morning for her blow dry even though she isn't wet.
What a cutie!
Helen and I went to a local farm that is only 10 minutes from our house to go blackberry picking. On the way there a white crane flew right in front of our car and then we saw a huge buzzard on the side of the road. I stopped to get a photo but it flew off too fast. Up the road a bit we saw two beautiful horses on the top of a hill by the road. I wanted their picture.
We got to the farm, picked up our berry basket and went to the rows they told us that had the ripe berries. The farm had thousands of berry bushes in multiple rows that were extremely long. It was so cool to see. I had no idea that unripe blackberries were red. I ate one and promptly spit it out~ whew~ sour.
I took a few pictures and Helen filmed a video of me talking about blackberries that I will show my foods students. We picked and picked and ate and ate. Good thing I brought damp washcloths with us to wipe away the sticky juice.
On the way out we got some fresh peach ice cream that we gobbled up. As we drove home I stopped the car on the side of the road, climbed the hill and took some pictures of the horses. The spotted one kept snorting at me to go away while the brown one came right up to me. Beautiful- love his eye lashes.
I adopted the best kitty in the world from the shelter. Here's Lizzie waking up from a cozy nap.
Helen and her friends have been planning to celebrate their minors in chemistry by burning their lab manuals that they didn't need to keep. Two of the three girls spent the weekend at our house and one of the nights Bill got the fire pit going. The roast was pushed till Saturday night because of rain. Holly requested my chicken tortilla soup so I made that Friday night for the girls. They roasted hot dogs (you can see 3 that fell off the sticks in the fire) and made smores. Then the fun began by ripping page after page out and watching them burn.
The neighbors house and their garden is in the background and the corner of my garden is on the top right.
She almost didn't make it.
Little Lizzie got terribly sick after she came home. She caught something from the shelter.
She could hardly breathe and would make panting noises. Her nose was clogged up so she couldn't smell food and quit eating and drinking water. The vet gave me syringes to force feed her mushy food and water. She was on several medications and vitamins that I also had to force feed her. She would just lay on us for hours and not play. Bill even slept on the floor with her at night. She was too small to get up on the bed and looked so sad unless she was cuddling with one of us. She likes to sleep on your pillow and cuddle with your hair.
We took her to the vet constantly but she remained very sick.
After a week of this Bill had a funny feeling at work and came home early to find her laying on the floor. She was alive but would hardly move. He rushed her in and they told us she had a 60% chance. An IV was put in her front leg and she was pumped full of nutrients, fluids, and medication. After two days she was allowed to come home.
She was nursed back to health for two months. To this day she still has some sinus issues but is now healthy.
Lizzie is THE BEST pet any of us have ever had. She is so loving, sweet, tender, and playful and we are so happy that she is alive.
Here's to a fresh new year! I'm looking forward to learning more technology, creating more art, and slowing down.
Bill is doing well and loves his job. He's been recording and writing songs on the side. He finished up his latest one and it is fabulous. He is sending away for the copyright.
Helen got to skip her sophomore year of college! She went to summer school and had many AP credits from high school so she is finishing up her junior year this spring (unless she changes her major). She also will have a minor in chemistry now.
Hunter is wrapping up his senior year of high school and will be the editor of the high school magazine again and has been training for spring track.
My new teaching job has kept me busy, busy, busy. It is a lot of fun though. We have been working on decorating the house and planning what's next for the yard and garden. I have a lot of projects to share soon and an update on our sweetie pie Lizzie.
Meow....
I was trying to hide in the corner of the back of my cage when I saw my mommy and her family walk in on Sunday. She was talking to a lady about something scary so I decided to let out the most pitiful cry I could muster up when my mommy looked into my cage. I was the first 'kitteh' to be picked up and held. I tried really hard to snuggle and look really sweet. It must have worked because my Mommy started to cry when she held me.
It was closing time soon and I saw my mommy tell the worker to leave a note that she was coming back the next day so the big scary person would not come and get me in the morning.
The next day my mommy and Helen showed up when the shelter opened. They came right up to me and gave me a big hug. I got to snuggle with them for over two hours in a little room. They did check out a couple of my friends one more time but I knew deep down that I was already picked.
I had a few fleas so the workers let my mommy give me a bath in the back with some foamy flea shampoo. I tried really hard to be good and I didn't even scratch her even though I did try to climb out a couple times. Helen and mommy wrapped me in some towels because I was shivering. I was dry and fluffy in twenty minutes and even got a new clean cage. Mommy signed the paperwork and left. The next day I was spayed and given a microchip.
I was allowed to go home on Wednesday. I talked to mommy a few times in the car and enjoyed the ride. When we got home, I got really excited when I saw that I would have two sisters. I think it will be a lot of fun to play with them someday and I think Gidget will let me snuggle with her. My daddy thinks I am so cute and he spends a lot of time petting me.
I am staying in the master bathroom until I have my stitches out (but mommy and daddy take me upstairs sometimes). I decided that I didn't like my stitches because they were itching me so Hunter and daddy drove all the way to PetsMart to get me a collar but they didn't have one small enough for my petite neck. Mommy made me a soft one from fast-2-fuse and sewed it so I can't take it off. I actually don't mind it because it is a little flexible and I can still eat and drink without help.
I met my vet on Thursday and had my check up to make sure I was healthy. All of the workers came to see me and told me how pretty and well behaved I was. The vet said I am about 10-12 weeks old and 2 1/2 lbs. I went back Saturday morning because I caught a cold from the shelter and I have a fever and the sniffles. I am taking some medicine and it's making me feel better. Other than that, I am very healthy. I go back in a week to get my stitches out and then mommy will take off my collar.
I like my new name- Lizzie. I was named after Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.
I like to snuggle with my mommy and daddy. Sometimes I will lay on their laps for over an hour.
Mommy says I have a fox tail and face.
My back legs look like fawn legs and my eyes are a bright almond color.
Daddy says that I have hairs coming out of my ears like a gremlin.
I think I need some practice with learning how to meow. Right now it kind of sounds like "ehhh."
When the volunteer told me that the cages marked with an "x" would be the first ones to be put down, I broke out in tears. Cage after cage, I saw an "x" marking those sweet babies. I am still shook up over it.
I guess I am a bit naive since I figured they did that once per month but not three times per week! I asked how they picked which ones would be marked and she said "the ones who are more shy or scared and don't come right up to the front of the cage and want attention."
Oh my.
We found my Gidget (in pic) four years ago at this shelter and she was shy. I wonder if we didn't pick her, would she have received an "x" as quickly as some of these kitties? Probably.
I honestly think the calmer cats are the sweeter ones like the little orange and white kitten I bonded with today. She was scared out of her mind. The papers said she arrived yesterday and she already had an "x"! Not fair! Of course she would be scared. She was the first one I held and was the prettiest one too.
Bill and Helen were checking out some other kittens. We ended up playing with around 15-20. There were two others- a spotted tabby (with an "x") and a white w/ a bit of light orange who were Bill's favorites but both have colds and maybe ear mites. He didn't really get to play with the one I first liked.
It's going to be hard to pick one of the three. The shelter was closing so I asked the lady to leave notes on the two of the three that we liked so they would not be put down in the morning. Not a guarantee, but I will be back tomorrow when they open.
